So, I baked bread...Now what?

Saturday I baked two loaves of honey white bread. I think they came out great for my first real attempt at making bread! But then... What do you do with two loaves of bread? We had some with Nutella, some with cheese, and some with butter. That was maybe 2/3 of one loaf. What to do the next day (or days 3 and 4)? Here's what I came up with for bread once it starts to get a bit stale.


Day 2 Recipe - Monte Cristo

Ingredients for 4 sandwiches:

8 slices of bread

8 slices turkey breast

8 slices ham

8 slices cheddar cheese

2 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

a few tablespoons of heavy cream

pinch of granulated sugar

powdered sugar for dusting

raspberry jam (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Place butter in large pan (that can be placed in the oven) to melt. Mix together eggs, heavy cream, and granulated sugar. Assemble each sandwich with 2 slices of turkey, 2 slices of ham, and 2 slices of cheese (make sure the cheese is closest to the bread on both sides). Dip entire sandwich in egg-cream mixture, and place sandwich in large pan. Repeat to assemble all 4 sandwiches. Cook sandwiches on both sides until lightly browned. Place entire pan in the oven so sandwiches cook through (just a few minutes). Cut sandwiches in half, dust with powdered sugar, and serve with raspberry jam for dipping. Delicious!

Day 4 Recipe - Grilled Vegetable Panzanella

Ingredients for 2 servings:

1 ball quality mozzarella cheese

1 zucchini

3 tomatoes (each about the size of a baseball)

1/2 large red onion

4 - 6 thick slices of stale bread

1/2 cup olive oil 

6 cloves of garlic, crushed

about a dozen of your favorite olives, pitted

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

fresh basil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cube bread. Mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 cloves of crushed garlic, salt, and pepper. Toss croutons in the mixture and spread out on a baking sheet. Place in the oven until toasted and crunchy (toss once mid-cooking). Cut zucchini, tomatoes, and red onion into large chunks and toss with remaining olive oil, remaining garlic, salt, and pepper. Place vegetables on a grill pan. Cook until both sides have nice grill marks. Cube mozzarella cheese. Cut olives in half. Toss together bread, cheese, olives, grilled vegetables, and torn fresh basil. Toss with balsamic vinegar (and additional olive oil if needed).

Two simple and delicious ideas for stale bread. Now it may be time for me to experiment with some other bread recipes.

Picking Tomatoes

I just want to share some photos from a week and a half ago. We picked tomatoes at Bedner's farm and lots of different fruits/veggies at the Girl's Strawberry Patch.

A Day in the Country

Okay, so maybe visiting Boyton and Delray isn't really visiting the country, but it's the closest country to my house! Last Saturday, we went to Bedner's Farm, the Girl's Strawberry Patch, Harvest Time Market, and another small place that had fresh chicken eggs. So cool! I'll go through each one in the order we visited.

Harvest Time Market is actually in Lantana. During certain times of the year, they have a you-pick area, but they didn't when we visited. However, they did have a nice farmer's market, with delicious hybrid tomatoes (those huge ones they sell at Whole Foods for like $5.99/lb) for just $1.99/lb. They also have a nursery, where we got two plants for our front yard.

The next place we visited was Bedner's Farm. It's the most traditional farm in the area. They have a nice indoor farmer's market. Outdoors, they have a barbecue area with sandwiches and side dishes...and homemade ice cream that is powered by a tractor! Then, you can take a ride on a tractor/trailer to the different fruit/veggie patches. The tomatoes and strawberries were in season, so we got to pick those.

Next, we went to a nursery that had fresh farm eggs. The place also had lots of exotic orchids and other plants for sale. Oh, and the owner had two cute corgies :-)

And last, but certainly not least, we visited the Girl's Strawberry Patch. This place is so cool! The actual you-pick is located behind a somewhat run-down strip mall. You enter through an old-time candy store with fresh ice cream, cookies, and chocolates, into a world like no other. In addition to a hydroponic you-pick that has tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, green beans, etc., there are lots of animals. Rescued birds (some that I had never seen before - parrots, peacocks, etc.), rabbits, tortoises, miniature donkeys, and more. The produce is so inexpensive and delicious. Many of the birds are free to roam or are in large cages. The animals are all fed well (mostly veggies). And there are old cars that are repainted, large cut-outs to take photos in, and areas to sit in the shade. It's such an awesome (FREE) place to visit. Oh, and sometimes...they have faeries with faerie dust! How cool is that?? After visiting the Girl's Strawberry Patch, you can go in the Boy's Market, which has a bakery, cheese from around the world, butcher, seafood, tons of produce, and delicious prepared foods. Awesome day with my family!

The Real Farmville

While on our way home from our first family vacation, we stopped at Crone's Cradle Conserve. This is an amazing place in Citra, FL. Where's Citra, FL? Basically, in the middle of nowhere. We took I-75 to the Orange Lake exit, then drove many miles through the wooded areas, until we had to veer off the paved road. After that, we still had to drive a few miles...until we found this absolutely amazing place! It's a farm with a country store. They sell fresh goat cheese, eggs, grass-fed beef, jars of pickled items and jellies, and all of these wonderful fresh veggies and veggie/herb plants. They had chickens and pheasants and a big ol' pig. They're also extremely eco-friendly. I spoke to one of the employees, and he said that they try to avoid using any plastic products. It felt like stepping back in time to a simpler life, where people took pride in their work. The raised garden beds were so well-taken care of, the animals roamed free or in very large cages, eating healthy fruits and vegetables.

Here are a few pictures I'd like to share:

We purchased some fresh arugula that I put in a quiche, carrots, some romaine lettuce, several veggie/herb/fruit plants (cantaloupe, watermelon, oregano, and a few others), fresh goat cheese (which tasted so different than the store-bought stuff...so much earthier), and Richard got some grass-fed beef that he used to make meatballs.

Just one garbage bag!

I've always been fairly aware of the need to reduce waste and recycle as much as possible. When I worked in a local public school, I used to hate how much paper was wasted. I used to keep a large paper bag in my classroom to bring home all of my paper for recycling, and sometimes some of the other teachers would contribute. The amount of unnecessary waste in just one school is unbelievable.

This week, we did the most amazing thing. Between my husband and me, we only filled ONE GARBAGE BAG with waste. That probably doesn't sound like anything too noteworthy, but if you think about how much garbage one accumulates in just a day, it's pretty awesome. We've been recycling everything imaginable (we actually have more stuff in our recycle bins than we do our garbage can). Just as important is our "compost."

When asked, I always tell people that I compost, but I never actually did. Here's sorta my composting evolution...

I used to just put everything food-related down the garbage disposal.

Then I started collecting it in a bowl on the counter. When I accumulated a bunch, I'd put it in a blender with some water, and make a nasty puree. I'd take this puree and pour it over my herb/veggie garden in my backyard. I'm sure this made my soil nutrient-rich, but it destroyed my somewhat-decent Black & Decker blender.

After that, I just started tossing all of my food scraps into my garden (after collecting them in this ceramic "compost" container I got at TJ Maxx). This seems to work okay, but it's still not quite right....

Then I came across this "How to Compost" post at Mommy Has to Work. I'm starting to collect what I need to begin this process properly. I'll post photos of my garden and my compost bin once they are both up and running. I'm excited about maintaining my garden so naturally.